Le Sud-Ouest – delights from south west France

Recently I have led some tastings of wines from France’s south west,the south west of France, or le Sud-Ouest.

I have written about this region of France before, but a another mention will not go amiss as it is a very misunderstood place.

Map of Southwest France including the A.C.s of Bergerac – click for a larger view – non watermarked PDF versions are available by agreement.

For starters, many people get confused by the term and imagine it includes the Languedoc – it doesn’t. The south west is a wide area mainly to the south of Bordeaux and never straying further east than the delightful town of Millau in the Aveyron department of the Midi-Pyrénées region near the Auvergne. The most northerly wine areas are way over in the north east around the town of Rodez, also in the Aveyron department. Here the rarely encountered wine regions of Entraygues – Le Fel and Estaing with just 20 hectares of vineyards each are attempting to bring themselves back to life after decades of decline. The nearby region of Marcillac is already doing well with some 200 hectares that produce delightful red and rosé wines that are well worth a try. The landscape here is quite beautiful with steep south facing slopes:

Domaine du Cros – photo from the winery.

2012 Domaine du Cros Lo Sang del Païs
A.C. Marcillac
This is a delightful, if earthy and rustic wine made from 100 % Fer Servadou, or Manses to the locals and here known as the blood of the country or Lo Sang del Païs.
It is a dry, lean red, quite light bodied, but with a freshness of raspberry and cherry fruit in a rustic Pinot Noir kind of way that makes it an excellent wine with lighter foods.
This will not be for everyone, but it is a fascinating glimpse of classic French wine that many people no longer see, perfect with steak frîtes – 87/100 points.

From £8.50 a bottle in the UK from The Wine Society, Joseph Barnes, Les Caves de Pyrène & The Smiling Grape Company.

The next thing to realise about the south west is that grape growing is so spread out it barely counts as a single wine region. As so few of the wine producing areas touch each other or have much in common it is more a region of convenience, or a wine region in name only. Grape growing and wine production in these places has struggled since a nineteenth century heyday, so many of them produce tiny amounts of wine with viticulture dwarfed by other forms of agriculture. In many ways it is better to regard each wine producing area as a region in its own right. The climate varies across the whole place too with most of it enjoying a relatively dry maritime continental climate although a little Mediterranean influence does creep in further east. This shows itself in the choices of grape variety, with Bordeaux grapes holding sway in the west and a gradual progression through to Syrah in the east, it seemingly never gets warm or dry enough for Grenache here.

Gaillac
This delightfully sleepy part of France, near Albi, has much to offer in the way of wine. The slightly fizzy Gaillac Perlé was quite popular in the 1960s and I think deserves to be rediscovered as all the examples I have tried are lovely white wines. My favourite so far is:

Château Clement Termes in Gaillac – photo from the winery.

2012 Château Clement Termes
Gaillac Blanc Perlé, A.C. Gaillac
A blend of the local Loin de l’Oeil / Len de l’el and Muscadelle  aged on the lees over winter. At only 12% this is delightfully light and fresh with high but not tart acidity, scented and herbal with green tinged fruit and a nettle-like, stony character. If you enjoy Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadet or Picpoul, then I cannot imagine you not falling for this wines delicate, linear charms, certainly I think it is an excellent classic French dry white. That tiny hint of spritz keeps it fresh and emphasises the savoury side too, which makes it a lovely aperitif or perfect with classy fish and chips – the back label proclaims it to be ‘indispensable with fruits de mers’ and I would love to try it with goats cheese some time too – 87/100 points.

From £8.99 a bottle in the UK from Marks & Spencer & The Smiling Grape Company.

Gaillac though is also an excellent, if unexpected source of red wines and this  next wine thrilled everyone at my tastings:

2009 Domaine Rotier Renaissance Rouge
A.C. Gaillac
This is a sumptuous, supple blend of 40% Duras – a local grape grown nowhere else, with 25% Braucol – the local name for Fer Servadou – & 35% Syrah aged 12 months in barrel. I loved the inky intensity, the delicate smoke notes and the touch of savoury, fresh compost on the nose. The palate was supple and dense with rich black fruit and compact, chewy tannins that were very smooth and pleasurable. A terrific wine that pleased everyone who tried it and would be superb with all manner of meat dishes  – 90/100 points.

I can no longer find a stockist for this wine, but the same producer’s very similar Les Gravels Rouge is available in the UK from The Wine Society at £9.50 per bottle.

Saint Mont

Saint Mont is in the Basque lands of Gascony with ancient links to the Pilgrim’s route to Santiago in Spain.

Previously known as Côtes de Saint Mont, this exciting region is an enclave carved out of the Côtes de Gascogne and using many of the same grapes as Madiran and Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh. All the wines I have ever tasted from here are made by the excellent Plaimont Producteurs cooperative. If there are other producers then I have yet to find them, but these guys do a superb job.

I have a particular liking for the tasty white wines of the area and Plaimont have gone to great lengths to bring the traditional grape varieties and blends of Arrufiac, Petit Courbu, Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng back to life in recent years:

2011 Saint Mont Les Vignes Retrouvées
Plaimont Producteurs
Made from a blend of 60% Gros Manseng, 20 % Petit Courbu and 20% Arrufiac, this is an exciting wine, dry, medium-bodied and tangy with a rich citrus acidity and a richer stone fruit and pithy citric palate with texture and a juicy succulence – 88/100 points.

Available in the UK at around £11.00 per bottle from Les Caves de Pyrène & The Smiling Grape Company.

2011 Saint Mont Le Passé Authentique
Plaimont Producteurs
Another deliciously tangy blend of Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu and Arrufiac. Gros Manseng always reminds me of tangly pithy grapefruit, so if you enjoy Sauvignon Blanc this could be a good style for you. It is aromatic, dry, citric and vibrant with a rich texture, lots of freshness, all in all a lovely wine – 88/100 points.

Available in the UK from Waitrose at £9.99 per bottle – £7.49 until 20/04/14.

The red wines of Saint Mont are made from blends of Tannat, Pinenc – yet another local name for Fer Servadou, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and are rather good too, especially this one:

2010 Saint Mont L’Empreinte de Saint Mont
Saint Mont
Plaimont Terroirs & Châteaux
This blend of Tannat and Pinenc – yet another local name for Fer Servadou – is concentrated, weighty, but soft, supple and richly fruity. In fact the key word is soft, it is also very smooth with no obvious tannin feel and very drinkable, as there is also a freshness running through it that stops it being jammy – 87/100 points.

2008 vintage available in the UK at £14.99 per bottle from Vinopic. The white Saint Mont L’Empreinte de Saint Mont is delicately oaky and quite superb too and is stocked by The Wine Society & Adnams Celler & Kitchen.

Irouléguy

Domaine Brana in Irouléguy – photo from http://www.winesofsouthwestfrance.com

Irouléguy is a beautiful mountainous region in the basque lands with a wine making history that goes back to Roman times and steeply sloped vineyards at heights that range between 100-400m above sea-level. They cling to the French side of the Pyrenees at a place where they wiggle a bit, so run north to south rather than the expected west to east. This means the vineyards face south and south east giving them much more sun than seems logical – if like me you foolishly assumed that the Pyrenees went in a straight line from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean that is. For those cheese fiends amongst you, Ossau-Iraty comes from around here too.

In truth although the region has a long history, like many of the other bits of the south west it almost stopped producing wine after phylloxera and the industry had to be rebuilt to make the good quality modern wines that we now experience. The grapes are classic from this part of the world, but often given their Basque names: Bordelesa Beltza / Tannat, Axeria / Cabernet Franc, Axeria Handia / Cabernet Sauvignon, while the whites are somewhat more exotic: Izkiriota / Gros Manseng, Izkiriota Ttipia / Petit Manseng and Xuri Zerratia / Petit Courbu.

The local coperative, La Cave Irouléguy, is the producer that I have encountered the most, but my favourite wines so far come from Domaine Brana.

Jean and Martine Brana farm 22 hectares of steep slopes in a non interventionist, partly biodynamic way – but not totally biodynamic since 2003 – and the care they take really shows in the finished product. They do not seek to make blockbuster wines, but more elegant wines with medium weight and plenty of elegance.

2011 Irouléguy Domaine Brana Blanc
Irouléguy
This is a classy, elegant and refined blend of 50% Gros Manseng, 30% Petit Courbu and 20% Petit Manseng. It has lovely complexity and richness, tangy mouth-watering acidity and a creamy texture together with a dash of savoury minerality. All in all a very fine wine indeed – 91/100 points.

Sadly I can no longer find a stockist for this wine, but The Wine Society used to stock it, so keep an eye out if they get some more.

2009 Irouléguy Domaine Brana Rouge
Irouléguy
An elegant blend of 60% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Tannat. A developed and beautifully integrated wine showing dried fruit, caramel and mocha oak and hints of leather. The palate has medium weight with intense flavour concentration with lovely intensity of fruit and balancing freshness. There is still a touch of fine grain tannins too giving lovely balance and an elegant restrained feel – 91/100 points.

Available in the UK from The Wine Society at £19.00 per bottle.

Sweet Wines
This part of France has a great tradition of producing desert wines of course Sauternes and Barsac are not far away, while Monbazillac and Saussignac produce very similar wines from the same grape varieties in nearby Bergerac.

The speciality regions for sweet wines in the Sud-Ouest proper though are Jurançon, which uses the wonderful Petit-Manseng to great effect, and the nearby region of Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh. This PDO / AOC covers the same territory as Madiran, but is only for white wines made from Arrufiac, Courbu, Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu and Petit Manseng. Wines labelled Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec are dry. The areas odd name apparently means ‘vines supported on stakes in the old country’ in the local dialect, which is how the vines are grown, which was historically quite rare in France, but is of course very common today.

Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh & Madiran vineyards – photo courtesy of winesofsouthwestfrance.com.

2011 Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Saint-Albert
Plaimont Producteurs
A late harvest wine made from a blend Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng and Petit Courbu left to ripen on the vine until 15 November – Saint Albert’s day. It really is delicious as it seems very fresh and lively with the sweetness keeping in the background, there are some orange marmalade notes, apricot and something more exotic about it too and the acidity keeps the luscious sweetness from dominating your palate. A lovely, beautifully balanced dessert wine, not massively complex, but very attractive. Everybody loved this precisely because it has so much freshness and is not as intense as some other dessert wines – 90/100 points.

Available in the UK at £13.95 per 50 cl bottle from Corney & Barrow.

All the tasters have been very impressed by the wines that I have shown them from south west France, so if you want to try something a little more unusual and interesting, it might be an excellent place to try for some delicious wines. Think of it as less of a wine region and more of a voyage of discovery.

 

 

Southwest France – like a box of chocolates

Variety is the spice of life. We have all heard that old saying and most of us know that there is some truth in it.

Certainly I like variety in wine. I am never more excited by a wine than when I am tasting it for the first time, or experiencing a grape variety or region that is new to me.

I suppose that is why I find Spanish, Greek and Italian wines so interesting, there is such great variety in all those places. Of course France does offer variety – but the whole focus on established classic wine styles means that there are normally fewer big surprises.

Vineyards at Château Clément Termes – photo courtesy of Château Clément Termes.

One ‘classic’ region of France though seems to be capable of delivering enough surprises for everyone. That region is the Southwest or Sud-Ouest and with the wines from here you never know what you’re going to get.

Actually that isn’t entirely true, but there is enormous variety here. That is because it isn’t really one region at all, but a mosaic made up of lots of small wine regions or sub-zones, many very traditional and some quite famous, but all believing they have more clout and potential together than they do divided.

As you can see from my map the region covers great swathes of France:

Map of Southwest France – click for a larger view – non watermarked PDF versions are available by agreement.

Dordogne and Bergerac – wines here are very Bordeaux-like and include Bergerac, Côtes de Duras and Monbazillac.

The Garonne – wines here are more varied in style and include Buzet, Côtes du Marmandais, Cahors and Gaillac.

Gascony – for me this is very much the heart of the Southwest and wines include Madiran, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh and Saint-Mont, as well as the excellent Côte de Gascogne IGP / Vin de Pays wines from the Armagnac region.

The Basque Country and Béarn – nestling in the Pyrenees  these sub-zones produce Jurançon, Béarn and Irouléguy.

I find myself very drawn to the wines from this part of the world, because of the variety, that feel of the unexpected and the fact that they are honest country wines made by farmers in remote sounding backwaters. These are wines that with some exceptions are slightly out of the mainstream, beloved by the locals and the people who make them, but a difficult thing to sell on more international markets. All of which makes them fascinating and worth trying when you get the chance – oh and lest I forget, on this showing they taste really good too!

This part of the world is also home to some interesting Vins de Pays or IGP – Indication Géographique Protégée –  as we now call them. As well as Côte de Gascogne, the other IGPs are; Côtes du Tarn, Côtes du Lot, Ariège, Landes, Condomois and Gers, while the whole region is covered by IGP du Comté Tolosan.

Recently I was able to try a really interesting range of wines from this part of the world and I thought they showed extremely well and convinced me that they were deserving of a wider audience and more of a following than they seem to enjoy at the moment – what’s more they offer really good value for money.

White Wines
I found these an exciting bunch of wines, really well made and giving lots of pleasure. The first 2 came from the Côte de Gascogne and were superb examples from star producers, both of whom I have known for a long time – and indeed used to sell once upon a time.

2012 Domaine de Grachies Côte de Gascogne Sec
Vignobles Fontan
Aline et Jean-Claude Fontan own 2 estates Domaine de Maubet and Domaine de Grachies and both make lovely wines, Floc de Gascogne and Armagnac. For many years I used to sell their delightful Domaine de Maubet (sometimes Domaine de Grachies) Gros Manseng Cuvée Coup de Coeur, which was a little sweet and simply stunning with melon and ham.
This is a simple and utterly delicious zesty dry aromatic white made from a blend of 45 % Colombard, 30 % Ugni blanc, 15 % Gros Manseng, 10 % Sauvignon Blanc. It is light-bodied, zesty and very fruity in a richly citrus way and will go with almost anything from being nice on its own to fish and chips and spicy foods – every fridge needs some of this in the summer! Not a complex wine, but gives great pleasure – 86/100 points.

Available in the UK at £6.75 per bottle from Nethergate Wines.
Domaine de Grachies Gros Manseng Cuvée Coup de Coeur is also available from Nethergate Wines.
The estate also has a gîte.

2011 Domaine du Tariquet Les 4 Réserve Côte de Gascogne Sec
Château du Tariquet,Yves Grassa
Altogether more ambitious, this took me a little while to get the hang of, but once I did I loved it – although I think Tariquet’s Classic dry white and their stunningly good Côté Tariquet Sauvignon-Chardonnay blend might prove bigger crowd pleasers – this is a blend of 45% Gros Manseng, 35% Chardonnay, 15% Sauvignon, 5% Sémillon all aged for 12 months in oak barrels. The oak does not dominate though, just adds texture and complexity. This is dry, but with big fruit and a touch of weight and softness to the palate – 86/100 points.

Available in the UK at £11.50 per bottle from Next Wine – I had no idea Next did wine!
Tariquet wines are available in the US through Robert Kacher Selections.

Different, but equally good, Fontan wines and Tariquet wines are also available in the UK from The Oxford Wine Company.

Gaillac
I have heard about Gaillac all my working life – the very lightly sparkling Gaillac Perlé was widely listed in the 1970s and ’80s – but have never in the past been especially excited about them. I cannot imagine why, I thought the 2 I tasted the other day were lovely wines and entirely different from the Gascogne contingent, these were dry and stony with taut green fruit. What’s more they are absolute bargains:

2012 Château Clement Termes
Gaillac Blanc Perlé
A blend of Muscadelle with Loin de l’Oeil / Len de l’el aged on the lees over winter. At only 12% this is delightfully light and fresh with high but not tart acidity, scented and herbal with green tinged fruit and a nettle-like, stony character. If you enjoy Sauvignon Blanc I cannot imagine you not falling for this wines’s delicate, linear charms, certainly I intend to drink much more of this stuff in the future. That tiny hint of spritz keeps it fresh and emphasises the savoury side too, which makes it a lovely aperitif or serve with anything light – the back label proclaims it to be ‘indispensable with fruits de mers’ and I would love to try it with goats cheese some time – 86/100 points.

Available in the UK at £7.50 per bottle from Underwood Wine Warehouse & The Smiling Grape Company.

Vineyards at Château Clément Termes – photo courtesy of Château Clément Termes.

2012 Saint Michel
Gaillac Blanc Perlé
Les Vignerons de Rabastens
A blend of Loin de l’Oeil / Len de l’el, Muscadelle and Mauzac this time and although the 2 wines are not massively different this does have a little more weight, feeling fuller in the mouth – but it is still light and fresh with that stony, flinty minerality and high acidity without being tart. A lovely versatile dry white wine that again only has 12% alcohol – 86/100 points.

Available in the UK at £7.99 per bottle from Majestic Wine Warehouses.

Reading about the grapes used in Gaillac I can see why the world might have ignored them in the past. Some of them, it appears, are prone to oxidation and so before modern wine making techniques came they would not have made wines anything like the modern examples. The same is true for a lot of the white wines of Spain, Portugal and Italy – they had to wait for modern know-how and equipment for their local grapes to produce world-class white wines.

Saint Mont
Originally known as Côte de Saint Mont when it was created as a V.D.Q.S. – a sort of junior A.C. or aspirant appellation –   in 1981, but changed its name to just Saint Mont when it was promoted to full A.C. status in 2007. The area is home to some of the oldest working vines in France – up to 150 years old – some of which are grape varieties that are unknown anywhere else in the world.

2011 Saint Mont Les Vignes Retrouvées
Plaimont Producteurs
Made from a blend of 60% Gros Manseng, 20 % Petit Courbu and 20% Arrufiac, this is an exciting wine, dry, medium-bodied and tangy with a rich citrus acidity and a richer stone fruit and pithy citric palate with texture and a juicy succulence – 88/100 points.

Available in the UK at £10.00 per bottle from Les Caves de Pyrène & The Smiling Grape Company.

Red Wines
So, the whites were terrific, but the reds were good too and again there was a lot of variety with very different textures and structures to the different wines.

2010 Domaine d’Escausses La Croix Petite
Gaillac
La Croix Petite – named after a small stone cross in the vineyard – is a blend of 45% Fer Servadou, 45% Syrah, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1/3 of which is aged in new Allier oak barrels. I don’t drink much Fer, but when I do I always like it and wonder why it isn’t more popular and widely grown. It always has supple fruit and beautifully soft and drinkable tannins that are very agreeable even in everyday wines.The fruit here is beautifully ripe, almost creamy in fact with blackberry, vanilla and sweet spices and black pepper, the tannins give a gentle chalky feel and there is a touch of iron too. A savoury wine that demands food, but is really delicious – 89/100 points.

Available in the UK from Les Caves de Pyrène

2010 Saint Mont L’Empreinte de Saint Mont
Saint Mont
Plaimont Terroirs & Châteaux
The Plaimont cooperative are rightly well known for making very good quality wines and this is no exception. This Tannat and Pinenc – the local name for Fer Servadou is concentrated, weight, but soft, supple and richly fruity. In fact the key word is soft, it is also very smooth with no obvious tannin feel and very drinkable, as there is also a freshness running through it that stops it being jammy – 87/100 points.

2008 vintage available in the UK at £14.99 per bottle from Vinopic.

2010 Domaine de Berthoumieu Cuvée Charles de Batz
Madiran
Didier Barré makes some of the finest of all Madiran at Domaine de Berthoumieu, which his family have owned since 1850. Charles de Batz is his top cuvée, a blend of 90% Tannat and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon made from very old vines hand harvested and aged for 12 months in new oak barrels. Charles de Batz by the way was the inspiration for my favourite hero in literature, D’Artagnan. This is a great wine, dark concentrated and brooding with aromatic black fruit, smoke and spice on the nose. The palate is rich and dry with deep black fruit, round spice, sweet oak spice, espresso, mocha, surprisingly smooth tannins and a touch of bitter chocolate. I liked the firmness that it shows now, but it will soften and become more complex for quite a few years yet. A lovely classic food wine that will appeal to lovers of claret and Syrah – 91/100 points.

2009 vintage available in the UK at £17.99 per bottle from The Smiling Grape Company other UK stockist information available from Boutinot.

Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh & Madiran vineyards – photo courtesy of winesofsouthwestfrance.com.

Sweet Wine
This part of France is home to many excellent dessert wines, of course Sauternes and Barsac are not far away, while Monbazillac and Saussignac produce very similar wines from the same grape varieties in nearby Bergerac.

The speciality regions for sweet wines in the Sud-Ouest proper though are Jurançon, which uses the wonderful Petit-Manseng to great effect, and Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh. This PDO / AOC covers the same territory as Madiran, but is only for white wines made from Arrufiac, Courbu, Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu and Petit Manseng. Wines labelled Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec are dry.

2011 Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Saint-Albert
Plaimont Producteurs
A late harvest wine made from a blend Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng and Petit Courbu left to ripen on the vine until 15 November – Saint Albert’s day. It really is delicious as it seems very fresh and lively with the sweetness keeping in the background, there are some orange marmalade notes, apricot and something more exotic about it too and the acidity keeps the luscious sweetness from dominating your palate. A lovely, beautifully balanced dessert wine, not massively complex, but very attractive – 90/100 points.

Available in the UK at £13.99 per 50 cl bottle from Corney & Barrow.

I know this selection is small, but I have tried many other wines from this varied region, and my conclusion would be that these are wines well worth trying. There are lovely wines here, interesting styles, interesting grape varieties and a whole range of wines that feel classic, but with a twist.

If you want to drink classic European wines – dry, elegant and restrained, then do try more of the wines of Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, but for sheer variety, difference and value for money you can add  Southwest France to that list too.